Chennai History
The apostle St. Thomas is believed to have preached here between the years 52 and 70 AD. With the arrival of the Portuguese in the 16th century, they built a port known as San Thomé or Sao Thomé in 1522. The region then passed under the hands of the Dutch, who established themselves near Pulicat just north of the city in 1612. In 1639, the British East India Company was granted land by the Nayak of Vandavasi as a base for a permanent settlement, believed to be called Madraspatnam. A year later, Fort St George was built which subsequently became the nucleus around which the colonial city grew. In 1746, Fort St George and Madras were captured by the French under General La Bourdonnais, the Governor of Mauritius who plundered the town and its outlying villages.